Caroline Andersson will leave Liv AlUla Jayco at the end of the 2026 season and join AG Insurance-Soudal on a three-year contract running through to the end of 2029.
The 25-year-old Swede arrives after one of the strongest periods of her career, culminating in fourth overall at the 2026 Tour of Britain Women. Andersson finished third on The Great Orme and then defended her GC position through the final two stages, providing some of the clearest evidence yet that she is developing from a dependable WorldTour all-rounder into a rider capable of competing for significant results herself.
Her move also gives AG Insurance-Soudal another versatile option for the Classics and selective stage races. Andersson has raced at WorldTour level since 2023 and already has experience at the Tour de France Femmes, Olympic Games and World Championships, while fourth at Le Samyn des Dames earlier this season reinforced her ability on difficult one-day terrain.
“From the very first meeting with the team, it already felt like the right place for me,” Andersson said. “I immediately felt that it was a team where I could see myself fitting in and developing further.”
Tour of Britain performance strengthens Andersson’s case
The timing of the transfer announcement is particularly striking because Andersson has just completed arguably her strongest Women’s WorldTour stage race.
The decisive result came on Stage 3 of the Tour of Britain Women, where The Great Orme created the first meaningful gaps between the GC contenders.
Kim Le Court-Pienaar attacked clear to win, Liane Lippert finished second at 13 seconds and Andersson followed in third at 20 seconds. Femke de Vries was only one second further back, but the performance immediately moved Andersson into fourth overall and placed her among the strongest climbing riders in the race.
That was important because The Great Orme did not offer many places to hide. The uphill finale forced the leading riders to compete almost entirely on physical strength, and Andersson emerged only behind Le Court-Pienaar and Lippert.
She backed that up on the longer and more attritional fourth stage into Hay-on-Wye, where ProCyclingUK’s Stage 4 preview had identified her as one of the riders whose Great Orme performance could translate particularly well to the sustained climbing.
Andersson remained fourth overall and then defended that position through the final day in Royal Leamington Spa, where she still finished eighth in the sprint after another selective stage.
Her fourth place in the final GC therefore looks much stronger than an isolated uphill result. She climbed well enough to move into contention, survived the race’s longest difficult stage and then showed enough finishing speed to remain prominent on a much faster final day.
Andersson has been building towards a bigger role
The Tour of Britain did not come from nowhere.
Andersson finished fourth at Le Samyn des Dames earlier in 2026, adding another strong result on terrain that rewards positioning, bike handling and repeated accelerations. The previous season she finished 11th in the elite women’s road race at the World Championships, while other results across difficult one-day races had already established her as one of Sweden’s most dependable all-rounders.
Her full progression is reflected on ProCyclingUK’s Caroline Andersson rider page, but the common thread is that her best results increasingly come when the course demands more than one specialist quality.
She is not a pure climber, sprinter or time triallist. Instead, Andersson is becoming most useful when a race is selective enough to remove the pure fast finishers but still tactical enough that positioning and race reading remain essential.
That explains why AG Insurance-Soudal have committed to a three-year contract rather than treating the move as a short-term depth signing.
AG Insurance-Soudal see Andersson as a Classics asset
Sports manager Jolien D’hoore highlighted precisely that versatility when explaining the signing.
“Caroline is a very versatile rider who will add depth to our team,” D’hoore said. “She is an experienced rider who can play an important role in our tactics, especially in one-day races. I’m sure she will make a positive impact both on and off the bike.”
The emphasis on one-day racing makes sense.
Andersson has already demonstrated an ability to survive hard Classics-style terrain while still having enough speed to remain useful in the finale. Her fourth place at Le Samyn was another example, while her cyclo-cross background adds technical confidence that can become especially valuable on cobbles, narrow roads and difficult surfaces.
AG Insurance-Soudal increasingly have several ways to approach selective one-day races rather than relying on one fixed leader. Andersson fits that model because she can work for somebody else, follow dangerous moves herself or become a secondary option if the race develops unexpectedly.
That tactical flexibility can be especially valuable in the Classics, where plans rarely survive untouched all the way to the final kilometres.
Supporting leaders while still taking opportunities
Andersson also expects her role to vary considerably from race to race.
“I hope I can make a difference, especially by supporting the team in the stage races and Classics, while also taking my own opportunities when they come,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to this new experience and to seeing what we can achieve together.”
That balance should suit both rider and team.
The Tour of Britain showed that Andersson is capable of riding for her own GC result when the opportunity arises. At the same time, several seasons at WorldTour level have given her the experience required to position leaders and contribute to broader team tactics when she is not the designated finisher.
AG Insurance-Soudal have already shown in 2026 that they are willing to build around multiple rider types. Kim Le Court-Pienaar’s Tour of Britain victory was achieved through a clear GC strategy, but the team’s wider programme still demands riders capable of supporting leaders across stage races while taking their own opportunities in Classics and selective one-day events.
Andersson gives them another option in exactly that space.
The Wolfpack connection adds a personal element
The move also carries a personal significance for Andersson because of her long-standing interest in the wider Soudal structure.
“I’ve looked up to The Wolfpack since I was a child,” she said. “I’ve always been a big fan of the Classics and have followed both the men’s and women’s teams, racing as a pack. Being part of that is something I’ve looked up to for a long time, so it’s really cool to now have the opportunity to join the team.”
That familiarity with the team’s racing identity appears to have helped make the move an easy fit once discussions began.
For Andersson, the attraction is not simply joining a stronger roster. It is joining a team whose aggressive approach to the Classics matches the way she increasingly wants to race.
Her recent performances suggest she is entering the move at the right point. She already has enough WorldTour experience to contribute immediately, but the step forward in her own results during 2025 and 2026 suggests there is still room for a much larger personal role.
Cyclo-cross adds another layer to her versatility
Andersson’s road career is only part of her background.
She also won the Swedish national cyclo-cross title in both the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, giving her another technical discipline alongside her WorldTour road programme.
That experience is especially relevant when considering her potential Classics role. Cyclo-cross tends to reward rapid decision-making, bike handling and the ability to repeatedly accelerate after technical sections, all qualities that transfer well to difficult Belgian and northern European races.
It does not automatically make someone a great Classics rider, but in Andersson’s case it reinforces a road profile that was already pointing in that direction.
Her fourth place at Le Samyn and the way she handled the selective stages at the Tour of Britain suggest AG Insurance-Soudal will have plenty of opportunities to use those qualities.
Fourth at the Tour of Britain may be a career turning point
Andersson was one of the riders whose standing changed most during the Tour of Britain.
ProCyclingUK’s wider analysis of what the Tour of Britain Women 2026 means for the rest of the season identified her Great Orme performance as one of the clearest reasons to reassess her level.
That assessment only became stronger once she held fourth overall through to the finish.
Even on the final day, Andersson remained present in the front group and took eighth in Royal Leamington Spa, as covered in the Stage 5 race report.
For a rider joining a new team on a three-year deal, that is useful timing. AG Insurance-Soudal are not signing Andersson solely on the expectation that she might improve in future. They have fresh evidence that she can already compete near the front of a selective Women’s WorldTour stage race.
The question from 2027 will be how often she can turn those performances into podiums and wins of her own.
A three-year deal shows significant confidence
The length of the contract may ultimately be one of the most important details in the announcement.
Andersson will be tied to AG Insurance-Soudal through the end of 2029, giving the team time to develop her rather than expecting an immediate finished product.
At 25, she sits in an attractive middle ground. She already understands WorldTour racing, has experience at the Tour de France Femmes and Olympic Games and has competed successfully at a World Championship, but her strongest results suggest she may only now be moving towards her peak years.
That makes the move more than a straightforward support signing.
If the trajectory seen at Le Samyn and the Tour of Britain continues, Andersson could become a genuine second-line leader in selective Classics and shorter stage races while still providing valuable support around the team’s main GC riders.
The transfer will also be added to ProCyclingUK’s women’s cycling transfers hub, which is tracking confirmed moves, contract extensions and departures ahead of the 2027 season.
Andersson will officially join AG Insurance-Soudal on 1 January 2027, beginning a three-year spell with the team through to the end of 2029.
